As we enter the Temple Room, the exultant sound of the great organ blends with the light to lead us onward until we enter the Temple Room itself. The Temple Room is a delight to the eye as well as to the spirit. Walls, soaring upward, seem to expand rather than to enclose the room. The furniture is made of Russian Walnut, with brown pigskin upholstery—enriched by a tooled laurel leaf pattern in black and gold. The floor is polished marble mosaic—tens of thousands of tiny cubes, each laid by hand. The floor is accented with a white marble border and with inlaid lines of bronze. In the wall openings on each side of the room are pairs of green
granite columns, with bronze bases and capitals. The glass in the windows shades up from a deep orange at the bottom (where the light comes through the coils of bronze serpentine grilles) to a pale yellow at the top, allowing the light to stream in at full force.

The windows serve as another symbol of the progressive search for more light. The hangings in each opening are of purple Italian velvet, edged with gold. Crowning the center of the window is the Double Eagle, the symbol of the Rite. The seats opposite the entrance designate the East. Here is the Sovereign Grand Commander's chair, under a canopy of Italian velvet. The canopy is lined with cream silk, and embroidered with the emblem of the Grand Commander.

Around the walls is a black marble frieze inscribed in bronze letters "FROM THE OUTER DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE THROUGH THE SHADOWS
OF OUR EARTH LIFE, WINDS THE BEAUTIFUL PATH OF INITIATION UNTO THE DIVINE LIGHT OF THE HOLY ALTAR." In the center of the
room, as it is in the center of the Scottish Rite, is the altar. Made of Black and gold marble, and resting on a black marble plinth, it dominates the Temple Room with quiet dignity. On the front of the altar, in Hebrew characters, is the inscription, "GOD SAID, 'LET THERE BE LIGHT' AND THERE WAS LIGHT." Rising above the altar is the vast polygonal dome, symbol of the vault of heaven. The dome soars nearly 100 feet above the Altar, flooding the Temple Room with light. We have said that Light is of importance to the Scottish Rite. The light of learning, of insight, of education is shared among Masons all over the world.